Ending Readicide

The information in this chapter doesn't surprise me. It just reinforces what I have been seeing in my own students and in the other reading we have done for this course.  Most of our kids have been is school since they were 3 years old.  They don't see and education as the great priviledge that it is; for many of them it is pure torcher.  I an not just talking about the student who has a harder time learning, but also the very bright kids who just don't "fit the mold".  The think outside the box, but we sit here shoving them in that box.  You have to bubble in these answers and don this canned experiment and be sure you get the same answer as everyone else.  We are destroying creativity with all the standards.  We don't have time to let the students ask question and find theanswer for themselves because we are "covering" so much material.  I am not ready to give up on American education, but we have got to start a revolotion and change the direction.

More Reading

More reading!  That's what the students say when anything is mentioned about reading in content areas.  Our school is focusing on the Reading content standard and we have started having the students keep reading logs.  they must read the equivalent of  2 books per month.  This is not really a lot considering the reading they do in each of their subjects, but all they think is MORE READING!  My honors chemistry students raised cane about having to read, they have spent so much time on the kind of reading discussed in this chapter that most of them don't even consider picking up a book for fun.  An then we come along trying to encourage them to read for entertainment,but are still putting a grade on it.  This is an area that I think could truly use some differentiation.  All this breaking text apart ruins it for good reader, so why not try a different approach for them while still providing the help for the students who need it.  This  sort of ties into the soap box I have been on for the last week.  We are creating or have created a culture of young people who don't know how to question which leads to not being able to think.  Science should be so easy to teach through inquiry, but all of my students are looking for the right answer to get the grade.  Very few care what the answer is for any other reason, but it is because I am telling them what questions to ask.  I think this is the same for reading the classic novels and poems.  I remember teachers telling me what the author meant,, not asking what I got from the text.  If we want students to be more engaged in what they are reading or what we are teaching in science we need to start letting them ask more questions.

Readicide? Yes and no.

I agree that the "chop-chop curriculum" takes all the fun out of reading a book, but I also believe that some people will never be life long readers reguardless of how language arts are taught in school.  I don't agree with Mr. Gallegher's premise that we must produce life long readers, who read for enjoyment.  I don't think everyone must leave school loving to read anymore that I believe every student will love science or math. We all are taught about multiple intelligences, learning styles and interest inventories, yet Gallegher wants to make everyone read for enjoyment.  I beleive everyone needs to be able to read.  Everyone needs to be able to gather information from text and follow directions, but to say that every person should get lost in a book for fun is trying to put all our students into the same mold.  I am a reader.  Reading for fun in one of my favortie things to do.  When I start a book, I can't stop until I get  finished.  I forget to "come up for air",   I forget to do the laundry, cook dinner or vaccum.  My 18 year old daughter has inherited my love of reading.  I have read to her since birth and one of her favorite thing to do is spend an afternoon at Barnes and Noble.  She keeps list of books she wants to read next.  On the other hand my husband has never read a book for fun. He reads magazines about his interest because the articles are short.  He gets aggrevatied at my daugher and I when we get all caught in a book and can't put it down.  Just because he doesn't read novels for enjoyment doesn't mean he can't read.  I think it is important to remember peoples interest and intellegences in this whole "Readicide" debate.